Friday, October 26, 2012

My search for
leadership in the Jewish Community brought me to Center City Philadelphia last
week to have a very nice breakfast with Dr. Asaf Romirowsky.He was remarkably gracious to spend 2 hours
with me.I ordered too much since there
was barely time for my pen to leave the paper during our meeting.

Dr. Romirowsky
is one of the leading Middle East analysts/scholars.He’s served as an IDF International Relations
Liaison Officer and has earned multiple degrees from a BA at The Hebrew
University in Jerusalem to a Doctorate from Kings College London.He’s extensively published in the press and
professional journals.Dr. Romirowsky is
an international lecturer and teacher and can often be seen discussing and
debating Middle East affairs in a wide variety of media venues.

“Tikkun Olam”
is a founding principle of Judaism which means “to repair the world”.We strive for equality, to advance moral
rights and demonstrate an openness to everyone.

A historical
perspective is a great place to begin.Jews in pre-Israel Europe were accused of not being “productive”, but we
were not allowed to own land.As a
result we were forced into non-farming (viewed as non-productive at the time)
vocations.The Zionist idea was to have
our own state where we could have our own rights, work the land and be
productive.Israel was about changing
our image (probably to ourselves more than anything else).

The first and
second wave of new Israelis grew up under various forms of socialism and
communism.The challenge was how to incorporate
and promote this new found self-reliance, or Zionism, into life in the new
State and how to introduce the world to this emerging Sabra.The Sabra, or fruit of the cactus, was the
symbol of this new strong Jew - prickly on the outside, but with fruit on the
inside.

The Holocaust
was certainly a catalyst for Israel, but not the only reason.A Jewish State had been a vision of some for
many years, but Arab rejection began immediately and continues today; to say
the least.

Not only do
Arab Israelis have all the rights of non-Arab Israelis (in Israel), but they
can even freely advance anti-Israeli policies inside the Knesset (the Israeli
legislature) itself.The extent to which
Israelis demonstrate being open and liberal is pretty extreme; particularly
when compared to other nations.

World
perception in 1967, for example, favored Israel as David to the surrounding
Goliath.Israeli soldiers were often on
the cover of international news magazines as champions of this view.Palestinians know that they can’t defeat
Israel militarily so they try to delegitimize and marginalize them in world
public opinion through the “soft power” of every available form of media.There’s been a profound shift in the past 40
years as all you have to do to be a revolutionary today is join a Facebook
page.

As a people
who pride ourselves on the education that was often the only refuge during our
oppressed past it is now our ignorance that our critics use in their
strategies.Israel’s enemies now claim
to be victims as they seek world sympathy.Palestinians even project Holocaust equivalencies by depicting Israeli
leaders in SS uniforms (among many other Holocaust metaphors) and declare
Zionist policies as racist.Hezbollah
operates freely in Europe and elsewhere with a clear agenda of eliminating
Israel.There’s even about 30
anti-Israel resolutions voted on each year by the United Nations’ General
Assembly accusing Israel of violating those things that they value most.

Of course,
Israel is (unlike the surrounding nations) open with easy access for
journalists just waiting for Israel to make a mistake for an easy story.The Palestinians have sold themselves as the
greatest victims ever to the very sensitive media even though it’s
self-inflicted.And here we go yet again
serving as the convenient scapegoat.You’d think we’d get a break after 5,000 years.

We now turn to
the American Jewish community who has a widespread historical connection to
liberalism and democracy which tends to conflict with this false perception of
Israeli policies that plays out in our own politics.There’s a Jewish “moral obligation” to vote Democrat.Everyone knows it as we yield to our own
brand of propaganda here at home.

We now have
the growing problem of a divide between being Jewish and supporting
Israel.Our own Jewish identity is at
stake as we fall prey to dishonesty and distraction from the real issues.We are apathetic in our own religious
teachings of Talmud and Torah, of biblical history and in the history of the
State of Israel.Far left-wing Israelis
are small in number, but often host anti-Israeli groups thereby giving them the
credibility they need.There was even a
very recent anti-Israel conference at the University of Pennsylvania presided
by a few Jews who “served the purpose” well by using and abusing their Judaism
to support and validate anti-Israeli arguments.

We are a
diverse and open people while our enemies are unified.They understand the value of 30-second sound
bites vs. the challenge of discussing history and demographics.

Being Jewish
has never been easy and today is no different.We needn’t give up our identity just to gain the easy approval of
others, but rather should seek serious discussions and academic integrity.

Is it so
important to be an American Liberal Jew that we have to ignore our surroundings,
our history and our guiding principles?We’ve done that before time and again with predictable results.Maybe we can maintain our values as we pursue
honesty in our quest for real Tikkun Olam.